On Wednesday evening, Canada beat El Salvador in San Salvador 2-0 to stay on top of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying table. There were a complicated set of circumstances to allow Canada to clinch their spot in Qatar that night. All but one of those circumstances happened and, as expected, a 3-0 USA win over Honduras blocked Canada's early path to Qatar. It was a sloppy game for Canada and they had to grind out the win against El Salvador. Neither team was able to get much flow going with constant fouls by both sides. Surprisingly, El Salvador played a cleaner, less physical game against Cana ..read more

If you've ever looked for soccer content on Youtube talking about CONCACAF, you might have stumbled across a channel/podcast called ¡Qué Golazo! The two hosts are former USMNT members Jimmy Conrad and Heath Pearce, and while they do talk mainly about their former national team, they offer very balanced and objective thoughts and coverage of all soccer leagues, including CONCACAF men's teams. Point 1 After the second WCQ window in October, Jimmy Conrad was already predicting Canada had made the World Cup based on what he saw from their games against Honduras (1-1), the U.S. (1-1), El Salvador ..read more

Due to the presence of the Omnicron variant and wanting to protect their players, Canada Soccer announced that plans to hold a January training camp in Florida has been cancelled. Also cancelled was a friendly tune-up match against Guatamala that was to be held at the strangely named DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Jan. 22nd, days before they are to head to San Pedro Sula to face Honduras in a World Cup Qualifying match. The question has to be asked - could this month's WCQ's be cancelled? Point 1 It looks unlikely as the sporting world continues to soldier on despite athletes ..read more

I was going to write this blog post before the 2022 CFL regular season even started. Seriously, I was but I got real busy with work and was tired and didn't feel like writing so I waited until now. On that first week, Hamilton was in Regina to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders. I had just seen Jeremiah Masoli have a really good game for the Ottawa RedBlacks against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The RedBlacks lost the game but Masoli instantly showed why they went out and signed him as a free agent, after it was clear that Hamilton was going with Dane Evans as their quarterback going forward ..read more

Nearing the end stages of CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, we all now know the 2022 CanMNT team is a very good one. But how much better are they than past teams who have tried and failed to get to World Cups? In interviews, current coach John Herdman says the coaching staff looked and analyzed past teams and saw quality; that there were players plying their trade all over in Europe's top leagues, just as with the current team. But something was missing - team camaraderie. Point 1 - The CanMNT trying to qualify for for the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan was fairly decent. So ..read more

Okay, it's not Canadian football or soccer, but looking at those two sports and all the unsportsman-like conduct that goes on, it was quite refreshing to see a sport where participants are kind to each other and mistakes are allowed to happen and be corrected without one side screaming bloody murder and asking them to forfeit the game. In the recent Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics I observed just that when watching curling. Point 1 - In almost all modern sports these days, the aim is to win. At any cost. What's the saying - "if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying"? Have you ever heard footbal ..read more

Point 1 - You know the story. In 1986, these guys were underdogs to make it. They were second best in their group but had been the ones selected to be part of the elite - the best of the best and weren't given much chance to do well. They were constantly sneered at and mocked by the other teams. They didn't come from very good backgrounds and had to constantly prove they belonged. Were you thinking of the Canadian Men's National Team making it to the 1986 World Cup? No! I'm talking Maverick and Goose, baby! Top Gun. The top grossing movie in 1986. We talk about Jonathan David being the Iceman ..read more

The 2022 Grey Cup Game is over. The Toronto Argonauts upset the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-23 to win their 18th Grey Cup in history. To be honest, I had little interest in watching this year's game. I was so thoroughly disgusted by the lack of effort the Saskatchewan Roughriders made in trying to get to the big game in their home stadium, the no-name halftime entertainment that had been lined up and, frankly, have been focused on Canada at the FIFA World Cup, that I really did think this would be the first Grey Cup I have not watched since 1976. Well, I had spent most of the day on the couch wa ..read more

I haven't posted in a while and I just felt the need to write about this. I write when I feel like it and, again, I don't necessarily write for you but for me. So, simply put - Saskatchewan Roughriders GM Jeremy O'Day has to go. I'll give you my reasons in my three points below. You could have Vince Lombardi coaching the Riders with this talent and he would still lose. Point 1 - If you're not going forward, you're going backwards. A lot of people have been quoted saying this and it is so true in the world of professional football. When O'Day stated last off season that he would do nothing spe ..read more

Canada Men's National Team goalkeeper, Milan Borjan, was not at his best form as his club team, Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda) was knocked out of further Champions League play after Israel's Maccabi Haifa beat them 5-4 on aggregate. Of the five goals conceded, three of them were actually quite embarrassing for Borjan. Here's my Three Points. Point 1 - Playing in Haifa for the opening match of the two-game series, Borjan misses a slow rolling cross coming from his left that goes into the goal area, off his arm, winds up in front of goal and right onto the foot of Haifa striker Frantzdy Pier ..read more